Kathmandu, Nepal: The member countries of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) - Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Bhutan have been setting their agendas to present in the upcoming 4th summit, which is going to be held on August 30-31 in Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal.
Though the member countries have their own priorities, almost all have underlined the need for conclusion of negotiations for a BIMSTEC Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and its trade facilitation measures because no conclusion is made yet even about 13 years after the framework agreement was made to this effect.
The time was already ripe to reach on conclusion of FTA but it is not happening so due to the vested interest of some countries that considered themselves as of powerful nation, a expert said pointing finger to the India.
As India and Pakistan share hostile relationship, the former one intends to utilize the BIMSTEC as of a viable alternative regional platform instead of the South Asian Association for the Regional Cooperation (SAARC), which need to deal cautiously, another so-called south Asian expert said preferring anonymity.
The issues related to the connectivity, energy, trade, investment, terrorism and climate change were already fixed as of the common issues but nothing specific are fixed yet to reach the issues into the logical conclusion.
As the host country, Nepal has passed a proposal from the meeting of the House of Representatives (HoR) to table a proposal seeking an endorsement of the ‘BIMSTEC Convention on Cooperation in Combating International Terrorism, Transnational Organized Crime and Illicit Drug Trafficking’. The proposal presented by Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa was approved by a majority on Monday.
While tabling the proposal, Home Minister had underlined the need of the convention to develop common understandings among the BIMSTEC member states in view of multi-sectored economic and technical assistance in regard with controlling terrorism.
The proposal set by the Nepal government would have its own significance, but the concerned experts have underlined the need to specify agendas that would play a key role to utilize the BIMSTEC as of the viable plat form for people-oriented decisions based on regional connectivity and economic integration.
